Prettily accented with strategic candlelight, Salford’s The Mark Addy, on the banks of the Irwell, makes unlikely elegance out of its exposed brickwork arches. Those who have seen it in the daylight in the aftermath of one of the restaurant’s semi-frequent adventures in flooding will know the Addy as a bit dank and grim, but on our visit, celebrating an anniversary, it felt romantic, intimate and informal.
It is tough to review a restaurant where so much of the menu is unavailable. Put it down to the timing of our visit, at the start of December we perhaps crashed into The Mark Addy’s oncoming Christmas menu, but with two of our chosen starters, of Pressed Brawn and Piccalilli and the Shrimp Soup, and two of our preferred main courses, Sticky Dandelion & Burdock Roast Duck and a Smoked Mackerel Fillet, withdrawn we were left a little short of choice. The service, hung out to dry a bit, was good nonetheless, friendly and knowledgeable, as it had to be as we ummed, aahed and scrambled to find second and third choices.
From the unexpectedly abbreviated menu we took on starters of Air Dried Beef with Organic Salford Honey Plum Chutney and Beetroot Cured Var Salmon with Horseradish Cream. Each dish was fine, but stripped back to the bones was ultimately just a cold meat plate, dressed with a refined condiment.
The beef had a lovely sweet, chewy quality, like fine slices of gummy biltong. The salmon, for its part, was a good quality fish cut, but the benefits of its having been cured in beetroot were sadly not apparent.
Of our of two mains, eventually arrived at by means of a figurative tossed coin, one was fair and the other a real disappointment.
Our order of Mutton with Celeriac Caper Cream and Nodding Pudding ticked all the appropriate boxes. The mutton had been slow cooked to a melting, creamy silkiness and was light in texture and flavourful. Points too for a fun, interesting potato side in the form of the nodding pudding, essentially a golden fried mash.
Our Fillets of Fluke with Dry Cured Bacon, Periwinkles & Garlic was weak however. The fluke failed to stand for itself, and liberally seasoned, clashed with the already salty quality of the bacon lardons. A vague garlic butter did little to improve things.
The final insult was a scattering of unwinkled winkles, served in their shells without an apparent means of getting at the chewy flesh within. Eventually, we figured out that maybe we were supposed to be snapping bits from the decorative fish bone which had been served jutting from the plate like a spectral Mohawk and using those as makeshift cocktail sticks.
We did, greasing up our fingers in the process, and we managed to messily pry a couple of the winkles free of their salty housing. A meal though is not a puzzle in an adventure game and shouldn’t be served as such. Winkle my winkles please!
The Mark Addy specialises in attempting to make culinary high art out of traditional ingredients, black puddings, offal cuts and river fish, but here it felt a little like the quirky spinning of these old Lancastrian ingredients resulted in a case of the Emperor’s new food.
Everything was a little bland and indistinct, in delivery a real fall from the expectations of foodie alchemy conjured up by the almost impenetrably quaint and queer menu. Something like wandering into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and finding that Tropicalifrajilistic Whizzpopper is just some half-chewed Hubba Bubba.
A shared Dark Chocolate and Cinder Toffee Terrine at least ended the night on a high. With one arm round an indulgent chocolate mousse and the other messing about in the knickers of a Cadbury’s Crunchie, this small, potent dessert was rich, naughty and exciting but, for about a fiver a throw, could maybe have done with a creamy Crème anglaise or something like it on the plate too.
Our Rating: 
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Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)
Category Food and Drink, Manchester |
Boasting a chef once of Manchester heavyweight Stock, and set on the Locks alongside populist money-spinner Albert's Shed, Twisted Med seems all set up for success. It's not quite there yet though.
Squeezed in beneath one of Castlefield Locks’ distinctive railway arches, New Manchester food venture Twisted Med offers, as the restaurant’s name so ham-fistedly suggests, a contemporary tweak on the classic Mediterranean we know and love so well.
A small operation, the upstairs neighbour to ground floor bar Bohemia, Twisted Med fills its limited floor space with a handful of booths and a scattering of other tables, all of which were occupied at the time of our visit.
The restaurant’s modern finish, which shines and subtly twinkles, suits an atmosphere of bubbly young professionalism full of chatter and expensive, unflattering haircuts; some of the angular glassware and crockery rather spoilt the effect though, an ugly, awkward egg too many in an otherwise tasteful bowl.
If the decor is a little spare and impersonal then the fine service and warm welcome, replete with a complimentary bowl of olives, more than make up for it.
Patient while we dallied over our order, quick to our table when we needed something and relaxed enough to let us pour our own wine (a feat which we were miraculously able to perform unaided), the service, toeing admirably the tightrope between attentive and invasive, was everything we look for when dining out.
We ordered starters of Goat's Cheese on a Toasted Crostini with Caramelised Red Onion and the Mango and Crayfish Tower.
The goat's cheese dish was well executed if not an especially twirly and inventive take on this simple classic.
My mango and crayfish tower, something of a house speciality, was the evening’s zenith, sweet and salty in flavour and with smooth, cool textures, complimented by the crunch of a small side salad and the tart zing of some balsamic ‘spiders’. It looked pretty, clean and orderly, and, fresh and light, tasted even better.
We had, when selecting our mains, a reviewer’s duty to give those dishes to which the restaurant had lent their ‘Twisted’ name a spin. These should, logic suggests, be Twisted Med’s flagship menu items, combining the best of quality and the inventiveness their brand implies.
The Twisted Med Fish-Skewer plundered the sea, in the best Mediterranean tradition, lining up scallops, black tiger prawns and salmon on a wooden skewer- like an expensively assembled table football front line de la mer.
A little brash in concept, like a caviar-stuffed lobster, the two small skewers, which each contain one of each of the component ingredients, were deliciously salty, buttery and powerfully full of fish flavours.
The skewers were a little under-proportioned on a plate subsumed by an invasion of fat, space-gobbling chips. Though not a clever or elegant bit of plate design the chips were at least pleasingly crunchy without being dry.
A forgettable salad further cluttered up the plate, while a lime aioli was a fair stab at injecting a bit of lift into the usual mustard-mayonnaise dipping sauce. Lending a light hit of citric sharpness, the aioli was not delivered with quite enough conviction, and ultimately we wouldn’t have missed it.
The Twisted Med Lamb – marinated cutlets served in a bowl on top of chorizo, lamb strips and a bed of vegetables, with a marsala jus – delighted for the first few bites.
The cutlets were rich, moist and beautifully cooked, while the other little pearls of meat which we had to truffle out from beneath a huge, neatly presented swelling of food, added a chewier, smokier flavour to each mouthful. The marsala jus, which had kissed the cutlets on its way to forming a pool at the bottom of the bowl left a delicate sweet tang and an earthy ripe richness. It was all looking very rosy.
The Twisted Med Lamb, however, deviated from its path to greatness. The pooled marsala sauce, too voluminously delivered, gradually overpowered the dish as we started to add the carrots, baby onions and potatoes from the lower recesses of the bowl into the mix. Everything had become covered in the marsala jus which in turn became a claggy chore to wade through. The lamb, poor thing, could not ultimately compete. It was not far from hitting the very centre of the mark though.
Our desserts of Chocolate Brownie and Orange Flower and Almond Halwa, steeply priced at over £5, came in ample measures. The brownie, served with hazlenuts and ice cream was decadent and moist, a world away from cellophane wrapped supermarket imitators.
The Halwa, sort of a light, fragrant sponge, was the champion dessert though. Served with pistachio ice cream and decorated prettily with candied orange this unusual treat was blissfully airy and sweet and, though the ice cream lacked a bit of personality, its cool creaminess added balance alongside the crunch of the crushed nuts.
With its very-nearly-there food and solid staff, aligned with its location among one of central Manchester’s more picturesque areas, Twisted Med is on the way to being a restaurant to recommend.
Our Rating:
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Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)
Category Food and Drink, Manchester |
- The Swing Riots, 1830
28 September – 31 December 2011 at the Impressions Gallery, Bradford
Curated by Pippa Oldfield and Nicola Stephenson
Hidden, Red Saunders' exhibition of impressive large scale photographs, sets out to recreate pivotal moments in British history. Focusing not on the household names in history, the exhibition celebrates the often hidden or overlooked achievements of ordinary men and women in the nation's fight for democracy and equality.
Eight pieces are presented, each depicting a key event of social change in the style of tableaux vivants, living pictures. Individually lit and staged, they pose as photographic 'evidence' from a time before camera technology was invented or readily available. With three new photographs commissioned in Yorkshire as part of the Ways of Looking Festival by the Impressions Gallery and The Culture Company, Red Saunders has stated that “my hope is that these images can give new life to these important episodes of working people's history”.
Curated by Pippa Oldfield and Nicola Stephenson, Hidden is a highlight of the Ways of Looking Festival, which in its first year, explores the theme of evidence. Entering the exhibition, the scale of the work is arresting, drawing the viewer towards the enigmatic, illuminated scenes. Hung like huge tapestries, the size seems to give instant weight to the issues portrayed. The room lit only by spots above the work creates an atmosphere of reverie, with light from the work casting a rich impression of colour and life that plays around the edge of the room, enticing the viewer to look more closely.
With huge impact across the room, the work is equally impressive close up; with almost life size figures and props, the images hold up to close scrutiny, unveiling details that emphasise the focus on individuals and their contributions to great events.
Facing Wat Tyler and the Peasant's Revolt, 1381 (pictured), you stand before a group, a few lines deep, of peasants, rogue soldiers or perhaps mercenaries. Gathered under a standard of flags and a head oozing blood from a pike, the men gather against a backdrop of smoke-filled sky under the brooding silhouette of a castle. Assembled amongst them, certain characters stand out. Like a tableaux of popular imagination, there is the butcher, in his blood stained apron, the young but defiant drummer boy and a heavily pregnant girl clinging to her worried looking partner. A handful of stalwarts gamble and drink whilst a dog wolfs scraps of questionable meat from the floor. The scene is brazen, traditional and bordering on a grotesque version of 'Merrie England'. There is also something odd in the perspective of the photographs that suggests a slightly surreal take to the photographic 'evidence' for the event.
- Wat Tyler and the Peasant's Revolt, 1381
However, the curving wall of the Impressions Gallery sweeps you on to the next piece, and painted a rich red, not unlike that of a traditional museum, provides a backdrop that hints towards a duality of space, museum as well as gallery, with connotations of factual artefacts as well as artist's impression.
It is a strange juxtaposition that some of the photographs proclaiming to champion ordinary men and women's contributions to British democracy and equality are presented like the many oil paintings that celebrate aristocratic ancestry. This irony is perhaps most apparent in Thomas Paine, 1772. Sat astride his horse in a country setting, dog at his feet, there is only a hint, in the wooded path in the background, that there might be more to this view.
In many of the pieces, composition and lighting seem strange, out of kilter with what you subconsciously know to be correct. For example, light sources, depicted as candle, torch or firelight, seem to cast an incredible amount of light, disproportionately so, and the light seems to touch people in slightly incredible ways.
All becomes apparent, however, in the 'evidence' room, where you can uncover the photographic process behind the work in a video directed by Roland Denning. In this Red Saunders describes and shows the viewer the techniques behind the photographs, and deciphers the 'evidence', deconstructing the final exhibition pieces.
From a background in commercial and studio photography, Red Saunders has applied a full production process to the photographs in Hidden. Much of what you see has been done in sections and layered together on Photoshop, with elements tweaked or resized post-production. This approach helps to create that slightly theatrical quality to the photographs which encourage the viewer to not just accept the 'evidence' placed before them but to instead explore the rich layering within the work, perhaps even building on Red Saunders' vision and creating another layer of their own imagining.
Although important events are brought to the fore and figures forgotten from history revisited, the element of storytelling and reinterpretation in an unusual, modern way is what gives this exhibition its impact and detail, its vibrancy and significance.
Katie Bootland normally blogs at http://katiebootland.blogspot.com/.
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Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)
Category Art |
Manchester newcomers Boohoo take on the online establishment. Nice clothes, shame about the service.
After years of loyal patronage of ASOS.com, I made the switch to the Manchester-based online fashion retailer Boohoo.com in search of cheaper prices and a comparable service. But how did Boohoo measure up?
Prices
The prices at Boohoo.com do seem a lot cheaper overall than those you will find at other online fashion retailers, making it a very tempting option for High Street shy shoppers such as myself.
The website
Unfortunately, the website is not as easy to use as it should be. Whilst browsing through categories and filtering to your exact specifications is pleasant and easy, some of the individual product pages do not load properly or very quickly. There is a zoom feature, but not all extra pictures of each item show up correctly. Nearly every piece is professionally modelled, however, and you also get a catwalk view.
The order
The order process is relatively easy to complete, although fiddling with the contents of your virtual shopping basket before confirming your purchase can be infuriatingly slow. This is the case for a lot of the website though, unfortunately.
Delivery and returns
What really lets Boohoo.com down is its delivery and returns policies. For the rather princely sum (compared to other sites like ASOS.com, which have numerous free delivery and next day delivery options) of £3.99 for standard delivery, Boohoo will only deliver your order after four working days, not including weekends. Despite this, my order was still a day late in arriving. If you want next day delivery, it’s £5.99, whereas ASOS will offer it for free if you spend a certain amount.
Whilst the site doesn’t charge a fee for returns, there is an admin charge of £2 to pay. So, technically it does charge a fee for returns. You do get a pre-paid label to slap on your returns parcel, but when I got to the post office I was told my parcel was too heavy for the supplied label. Perhaps Boohoo doesn’t expect so many items to be returned, but they should cover the entire order just in case.
- Party dresses from Boohoo
Now, what about the clothes?
Despite what I said earlier about returning a lot of my order, I technically couldn’t find much wrong with the dresses, coats, trousers and shoes which arrived. Everything seemed to be made of excellent quality materials, and the sizes were nearly spot on. The only exception was a pair of shoes which were supposed to be a size 6, but which I struggled to cram my feet into.
I simply wasn’t entirely happy with what arrived. It either didn’t suit me, or just didn’t seem quite right. This can either be put down to my dodgy taste on the day of ordering, my penny-pinching ways (“I have to love it, or I’m not buying it!”), or items not being quite as they looked on the website (or on the models).
Overall, I would consider using Boohoo.com again, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. The site has some way to go to catch up to its competitors, especially when it comes to customer service. Boohoo also needs to realise that the easier it is to order clothes online and return them, the more carried away shoppers like me become and the more money they tend to spend.
Our Rating:
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Rating: 3.0/5 (1 vote cast)
Category Internet, Manchester, Shopping |
Half price from Tesco, reviewed for your interest. Because drinking nice wine is a sort of work.
This Chardonnay has pedigree, coming from the fertile vineyards of New South Wales, but we've been a bit disappointed with Aussie wines of late. This ripe 2010 Rawnsley Estate has gone some way to making amends.
A fruity, spry New World white, Rawnsley Estate Chardonnay 2010 combines a sweet immediacy with tart tones and subtle oakiness.
Vaguely tropical flavours, of pineapple, peach and melon, lilt pleasantly on the palette, a refreshingly summery blast at this wintry time of year, before a soft oaked vanilla flavour melts away to leave a late sweep of citric sharpness.
What seems like it might,at first, be a fairly uncomplicated and jovial sort of wine – something like a boozy Capri Sun – actually reveals itself to have a surprising length and depth.
Nice for a modern Australian Chardonnay, this 12.5% bottle, doesn't pull up any trees or tug on any eyebrows, but at a half-off price of £5.49 at Tesco its sheen of quality means it's certain to be a well-received addition to your table.
RRP: £11.99
Half price offer: £5.49
ABV: 12.5%
Our Rating:
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Rating: 4.0/5 (1 vote cast)
Category Food and Drink |
